Sheesh. What a mad, mad, mad, mad worldview.

“I taught myself to meditate in those scenes. I wasn’t present in those scenes at all, so they didn’t really have as much effect on me.”

Here’s that story.

That’s cool that she found a way to deal, but does that sound like meditation to you? She may not have been sleeping, but she doesn’t seem to have really been awake, either.

A new message on Groupon’s blog reads that “We hate that we offended people, and we’re very sorry that we did — it’s the last thing we wanted. We’ve listened to your feedback, and since we don’t see the point in continuing to anger people, we’re pulling the ads.” Even though “Save the Money” was intended to raise money for good causes like Tibet (Groupon states they pulled in $500,000 for these causes), the campaign failed and the SavetheMoney website, which played the ads and also collected donations, has been pulled. See the Groupon blogpost, “One last post on the Super Bowl,” here.

You may very well have lost more customers than you could’ve gained with that one.

Really: The initial online chatter about this ad has been very strong — strongly opposed, that is, with many people proudly announcing on social media, via the “#Groupon” hashtag, that they find the ad exploitative and will no longer support the bulk-couponing/group discount service.

And yet: Groupon is actually trying to raise money for The Tibet Fund. See here. This is not backpedaling; the site you’ll see when you follow that link was live when the commercial aired. The question is: will it work?

Maybe. But not too long after the Super Bowl had ended, the Wall Street Journal had already published an online piece called “That Was Fast – Groupon’s Super Bowl Ad Draws Backlash” and an online Facebook group decrying the ad had been created. Clearly, if Groupon was interested in raising money for the Tibet Fund, that message did not come through.

(Do you want to help Tibet? The Shambhala Sun’s special “Helping Tibet” page, full of organizations you’ll be proud to support, is a fine place to start.)

Update: As New York’s Vulture entertainment blog now writes, Guess who directed this commercial?

Much gratitude to him for sending it.

(And he has some gratitude for you, too.)

This month [Japan's Ryohoji] Temple unveiled its new “moe Buddhist [signboard],” [rendered in an animation-based style] combining modern and ancient art. [This development came about after the temple's chief priest, Shoko Nakazato] displayed a picture of “moe” outside the temple to welcome passers by. Moe is a traditional Japanese slang word often for a young girl, and associated with innocence, love and caring.

According to Shoko Nakazato, young people and the media have been flocking to the temple ever since. (The temple’s website takes a similar approach, also depicting and blending moe and Buddhist imagery.) But as one visitor told The Japan Times, “I’m afraid that the temple will end up being just a mecca for fans of manga and anime, which is probably not the temple’s intention.” As for the artist behind the sign? She says that while she “was initially worried she might be doing something ‘indiscreet,’” [she] concluded that even if the sign was controversial, it might lead people to visit the temple and think about religion.”

So. Thoughts?

Well, the Detroit News is now reporting that it has a sequel.

The Dalai Lama is in a hastily shot commercial for Fiat SpA, partner of Chrysler Group LLC in a follow-up to a controversial Chrysler ad from a year ago.

The commercial was shot in Hiroshima where the Buddhist leader is addressing the 11th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates this weekend.

It was quickly edited and is already airing, Olivier Francois, head of marketing for both Chrysler and Fiat, told The Detroit News at a Chrysler drive event in San Francisco Saturday.

The Horse hopes to have it to you soon. UPDATE: Here it is: